Just as the group was chatting happily and Kaido was in deep thought, Wapol's Den Den Mushi suddenly rang.
"Sorry!", Wapol apologized, then hurried to the side to answer the call.
With Rosse's hearing, of course, he could catch everything from Wapol's side.
"Ginny and Moa's incident, huh? Tsk! She really knows how to make trouble," Rosse let out a dry laugh, his expression turning odd.
The incident itself was simple, Ginny and Moa had actually taken a group of ordinary people out to sea, and then they ran into a Sea King.
With Ginny and Moa's strength, they could fight a Sea King, but they couldn't protect everyone.
In the accident, a few ordinary people were killed or injured, and because of Ginny and Moa's status, the matter ended up on Wapol's desk.
In Wapol's view, just a few people had died, it wasn't worth troubling Rosse. He could easily handle it himself.
But before he could reply, he heard Rosse say faintly, "Tell them this, say it's my order. Moa and Ginny should handle it themselves. If they owe compensation, they'll pay. If they owe an apology, they'll apologize. If they don't have the money, they can take it from me. Tell them it'll count as borrowing from me."
"Understood!"
With Rosse's word, Wapol's job became much easier, he was just a messenger now.
But in his heart, Wapol couldn't quite understand Rosse's behavior.
They were just ordinary people, dead is dead.
And the Sea King that died in the end? Ginny and Moa had even shared the meat with the others. That was already a huge kindness.
At least from his perspective, Ginny and Moa had done more than enough.
Anyway, Rosse's behavior didn't resemble a Celestial Dragon's at all, he wasn't even as cruel as most kings.
On the other side, Hiruluk and Dr. Kureha looked at Rosse with a noticeably softer expression.
Everything they'd heard before had been rumors, but now they'd actually seen Rosse's kindness with their own eyes.
Only Kaido was different. His eyes toward Rosse were full of admiration.
Who Rosse really was, others might not know, but Kaido did.
'Compensate for the deaths of a few ordinary people? Hah! As if!'
'The spirits of the dead from Wano were probably still howling in hell.'
Thinking back to Rosse's massacre in Wano, even Kaido couldn't help but shudder.
He'd never seen someone so ruthless, millions killed just because he said so.
But it was precisely this contradiction within Rosse that made Kaido understand even more.
Balancing kindness and cruelty, that was the highest form of rule.
Make your enemies fear you, and make your own people feel safe. That's exactly what Rosse had been doing.
And because of that, Rosse's prestige had been climbing higher and higher.
Now, in any territory directly ruled by Rosse, Kaido had no doubt, unless everyone there was killed, no one could shake his rule.
And if anyone did start killing, they'd better be ready to face Rosse's full-scale retaliation.
So far, no one had dared to touch Rosse's direct domains.
Even Whitebeard hadn't dared attack the Fishman Kingdom or the Jaygar District.
Kaido knew clearly, that was the result of Rosse's slaughter of millions in Wano.
If another "Holy Land Incident" were to happen, Rosse would only kill even more brutally.
Unless someone was a complete loner, they'd have to think twice before acting.
And as for the ordinary people under Rosse's rule, since they all knew Rosse killed to protect them, they actually liked him more for it.
Kaido had even heard that someone was deliberately spreading such stories, painting all the people of Wano as villains who had followed Kozuki Oden.
At the same time, they claimed that all survivors of Wano were those who had opposed Oden.
The purpose of such propaganda was obvious, to make ordinary people too afraid to rebel, and instead encourage them to report any signs of rebellion.
After chatting for about an hour and finishing the entire framework for the intermediate medical academy, Hiruluk and Dr. Kureha finally left reluctantly.
Even Dr. Kureha admitted that the framework Rosse had built for a modern medical university would definitely succeed within ten years.
"Pururururur!"
Just after they left, Rosse's Den Den Mushi rang again, right on time.
"What is it?", Rosse picked up the call and found that the caller was Spandine.
It had to be said, whether by luck or foresight, Spandine had survived by a hair's breadth.
During the Holy Land incident, he'd just happened to take his family to Enies Lobby, supposedly to celebrate his birthday. But whether it really was a celebration or he'd panicked when he saw Rosse summon God's Knights and the others away, no one knew.
In the end, though, Spandine's entire family survived, making them one of the few remaining noble families.
With most of the world's nobles wiped out, his position had risen sharply, he was now the overall director of CP1 through CP9.
["Honorable Saint Rosse! Someone's discovered Dragon's whereabouts, they've turned him in to us for the bounty."]
Spandine knew Rosse's style well, so he went straight to the point.
It had to be said, the man might be petty, but he was efficient, and that was why Rosse kept him alive.
If he'd been one of those brainless idiots, Rosse would've gotten rid of him long ago.
"Dragon? Where?", Kaido suddenly stood up, eyes shining with excitement.
He'd just arrived at Rosse's side and already had news of Dragon, what great luck for him.
["Lord Kaido, the target is currently located on Carlough Island in the East Blue. It's a populated island outside the alliance's jurisdiction,"] Spandine reported respectfully.
"I'm heading out now," Kaido said, already preparing to leave.
Rosse hung up the Den Den Mushi and gave him a sidelong glance.
"Just you alone, can you handle it?"
"Heh! Give me the intel division's contact. This time I'll take Moria and Linlin with me. I don't believe he can escape again," Kaido grinned viciously.
"You and Moria are on good terms now?", Rosse raised an eyebrow.
Moria had always been shouting about killing Kaido, but apparently not long after that, their relationship had improved.
From then on, Moria no longer fought Kaido to the death. Instead, whenever they met, he'd just give him a mocking look.
"Hmph! A real man knows when to bend and when to stretch. Just don't let me find my chance," Kaido snorted coldly, clearly, he'd swallowed his pride.
He had no choice, really.
No matter what, his position under Rosse was still that of a prisoner.
Compared to him, Moria was at least a formal CP0 agent.
Rosse didn't care much about their personal relationship. so long as they didn't kill each other, it was fine.
But he did rank people based on how early they'd submitted, not purely on ability.
If Kaido wanted to bully Moria, no chance.
If Moria wanted to bully Kaido, he could do whatever he wanted, as long as he wasn't suicidal.
Still, Kaido's composure was somewhat surprising to Rosse.
As expected, a man like Kaido, a true scheming warlord, was someone made for great deeds.
A pity though, whether you run into a child of destiny, or cross paths with him, you're just... Born in the wrong era.
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